Dalston/Hackney/Stokey news

Horribly parochial I know, but I don't see why this thread shouldn't exist, given how many members live in or at least frequent the area.

Basically I just wanted to start a thread in which I could mourn the loss of The Yucatan pub on Kingsland Road. Apparently it was closed down last week for distribution of class a's on the premises. The manager himself was nicked, so I heard.. tbh the first time I ever went to The Yucatan this lairy but friendly guy started telling me and my mate how he'd already had three lines, five pints, and was 'only just getting started'. This was about 3pm on a Saturday.

This pub was for football and football alone, but my oh my was it good at it. For Celtic or Arsenal games, the atmosphere was better than any other pub I've known - and the sheer multicultural breadth of the Arsenal support was a wonder to see.. Here's something my mate wrote which captures its spirit:

...To find the old supporters, visit any number of boozers in the vicinity of the stadium on matchday. In colorful, peeling pubs like “the Bank of Friendship” or the “Yucatan,” locals gather to watch Arsenal on screen. Over the tinkling of pint glasses, snatches of Turkish, Yoruba and Yiddish mingle with that bruised dialect known in these parts as English. Arsenal sits in the shadow of Abu Hamza's Finsbury Park Mosque, in the midst of heavily immigrant areas, where successive waves of Irish, South Asian, Kurdish and West African immigrants, among others, have created a diverse local constituency for the team. Yet few of the denizens of the Yucatan have been to the Emirates stadium – they simply can't afford it. They bring their children to the pub, decked in miniature Arsenal shirts and hats. These young boys and girls grow up in spitting distance of Arsenal, but most won’t see their heroes in the flesh.

I don't know that pub, but it's always tragic when a well-loved local bites the dust. Wasn't there some French writer about a hundred years ago who said something like "England, guard your taverns well, because if they go you'll have lost the best thing about your country"?

Edit - Hillaire Belloc: "When you have lost your inns, drown your empty selves. For you will have lost the last of England."

I don't know that pub, but it's always tragic when a well-loved local bites the dust. Wasn't there some French writer about a hundred years ago who said something like "England, guard your taverns well, because if they go you'll have lost the best thing about your country"?

Edit - Hillaire Belloc: "When you have lost your inns, drown your empty selves. For you will have lost the last of England."

"Basically I just wanted to start a thread in which I could mourn the loss of The Yucatan pub on Kingsland Road. Apparently it was closed down last week for distribution of class a's on the premises. The manager himself was nicked, so I heard"

So, what does that mean for the pub then? Will someone else be able to run it or is it definitely curtains? Shame if that's the case. It's not somewhere I've been often but have dropped in every now and again and it's always been fairly lively. Actually a bit too lively for me when I'm after an afternoon pint but good fun if you're in the mood.

Again, don't know that pub but seems wrong that something that means a lot to people can just be closed down from on high - something that happens an awful lot in Hackney it seems. I guess that there aren't many synagogues round there so I can see why they want to do it mind.

Why do so many dissensus people live in Hackney? Considering that I found it via the Woebot homepage which I (probably) found in turn by googling some some obscure records that he had blogged about there is no reason that I should be lead back to a group of people who live round the corner from me is there?

its the one part of east london dissensus types can feel comfortable in. broadway market for yer sourdough and espresso, artists studios, gastro pubs and mum and dads place in north london not too far away.

I've been obsessed with Hackney since the mid 80s, so much great and/or mad stuff has come out of it...

But as with the thread on berwick street I kind of find myself playing some kind of "national heritage" role and bemoaning the fact that everything which changes gets replaced by something worse. [cue: lots of comments about me being an old man, blah blah!]

tbh the first time I ever went to The Yucatan this lairy but friendly guy started telling me and my mate how he'd already had three lines, five pints, and was 'only just getting started'. This was about 3pm on a Saturday.

That sounds great for a certain mood, encapsulating everything that is great/ridiculous about this country....pity it's closed down. But why the hell is it named after a region of Mexico (tho this is far from a bad thing)??

"Where else would you want to live in London if you were interested in music? East London seems to have the highest number of clubs, bars with interesting music programming, galleries ... "

"its the one part of east london dissensus types can feel comfortable in. broadway market for yer sourdough and espresso, artists studios, gastro pubs and mum and dads place in north london not too far away."

I don't think either of these statements are quite fair - although both contain elements of truth as well.

That sounds great for a certain mood, encapsulating everything that is great/ridiculous about this country....pity it's closed down. But why the hell is it named after a region of Mexico (tho this is far from a bad thing)??

I should add that mr afternoon-coke-and-lager had apparently popped home to his old man's place for a roast half-way through this session, cos he only lives over the road. to which i said "did he not realise you'd been at the charlie?" and he replied "ahh, he doesn't care!".

family values, dalston style.

as for the name - it's baffling. it was run by irish blokes and staffed by eastern european girls. nothing mexican about it save the name!

apparently it was formerly the neville walford, also rumours wine bar. so it may live again in a new guise...

its the one part of east london dissensus types can feel comfortable in. broadway market for yer sourdough and espresso, artists studios, gastro pubs and mum and dads place in north london not too far away.

innit lol. personally i moved to dalston from balham because dalston is more like the balham i grew up in than balham is.. balham is now like clapham, which in turn is like west london, i.e. gross (sorry ufo).